Perfect Week
Recap Future Ted starts off by explaining that Barney's way of dealing with stress was imagining he was being interviewed by sportscaster Jim Nantz, who listed Barney's many accomplishments with women. Barney explains that it all started a week ago, when he issued himself a challenge. At MacLaren's, he "called his shot," pointing out a woman at the bar and saying she'd be the one he'd go home with that night. Thus began his attempt at a "perfect week," defined as having sex with seven women in seven days without a single rejection. The rest of the gang is having a less-than-stellar week. Robin went out on bad date, but becomes insecure when he won't call her back. Ted laughed at a student's name ("Cook Pu") after assuming it was a fake name added to the roster as a prank, leading her to drop the class. Marshall and Lily drive away another couple on a double date when they let slip that they use the same toothbrush. Ted and Robin soon realize they also, at one point, used that same brush. After four days, Barney's streak is unbroken, but on the fifth night, Marshall is worried because a big merger at work fell through and Barney was getting blamed for it. He said he thought Barney might get fired. Still, Barney stands at the bar, trying to look confident. Marshall says that management were going to have a meeting on Friday to see if Barney would keep his job. Lily wants to talk to Barney, but Ted intervenes, and Barney asks him for help finding the dumbest girl in the bar, who Barney promptly takes home. Nantz asks Barney if he'd ever used performance-enhancing drugs, but Barney said he respects "the game" too much. He said he'd been offered them before, and flashed back to a time when Marshall was grinning, but holding a pillow on his lap. He asked what time it was, then counted out four hours and realized he had to go to the hospital. Barney has a quickie on Staten Island to get through number six. The gang continues to mock each other for their mistakes, making "poo jokes" at Ted's expense, mocking Robin's desperation for a man she doesn't even like, and sitting in judgement of Lily and Marshall's dental habits. When Barney stops by the apartment, Lily confronts him about losing his job, and utters the phrase "perfect week", jinxing Barney. Even Jim Nantz was stunned, saying, "There are two things you don't do: One, you don't open an e-mail from Phil Simms in front of your kids, and, two, you don't jinx a man going for a perfect week." The next night, Lily is so confident that Barney was going to score with "third-martini girl" (Christy) at the bar, she says "there's no such thing as a jinx." The subsequent jinx leads to a member of the 2009 World Champion New York Yankees walking through the door: (Nick Swisher). The gang is convinced Barney's streak was over. Robin doesn't get the appeal of a Yankee, so Lily compares it to the appeal to her of a Vancouver Canucks' player. Christy starts to walk over to Nick Swisher and a dejected Barney comes over to the table figuring his week was a waste and he was going to get fired the next day. In the awkward silence, Lily realizes they all needed Barney's perfect week to make them feel better. She gets up and trips in front of Christy. She asks Christy to get her some ice, and Marshall and Ted run to sit by Swisher, starting a conversation about sharing toothbrushes. Nick comments that he loves hockey, making Robin hot and bothered. Meanwhile, Christy, who receives a fourth martini from Barney, says they should go back to his place. As she heads outside, Barney stops for high fives and a hoisting onto shoulders in triumph. His conversation with Jim Nantz over, Barney goes in to talk with the boss. Barney keeps his job, and his boss says it must have been a stressful time for him. "I barely slept," Barney says. Back at the bar, the gang commemorates Barney's week by retiring the tie he wore on the seventh day and Ted claims he'll never tell his kids about this story, which makes Future Ted doubt his qualifications to be a parent. Later, we see Ted accidentally embarrass Cook Pu once again when she picks up take-out at MacLaren's. Continuity *Lily and Marshall's search for another couple to befriend has been a recurring storyline since . *Marshall mentions him and Lily looking for couple best friends since losing Barney and Robin (in ), Ted and Stella (in ), Ted and Robin (chronologically in , with the full story explained in ), and Ted and Victoria (technically in , although they would have stopped hanging out after she moved to Germany in ). *Barney faces the risk of losing his job at Goliath National Bank, despite telling Marshall in that "the things I know about this company, I won't ever be fired." *Imaginary Jim Nantz mentions that Barney has slept with over 200 women, a threshold he crossed during . *Despite Barney's promiscuity, Lily's comments—"Wow, back-to-back nights. Barney is on fire" and "Three girls in three nights. That's gross, even for Barney"—imply that his success rate at seducing women is (as Marshall calculates in Right Place, Right Time) low. *Lily admits that Marshall talked about Sasquatch on their first date, an example of his love of the supernatural. *Marshall and Lily sharing a toothbrush is an example of their unusual codependence. *Barney claims in a fake history lesson that "Mustache Pete Drexel" in 1896 is the only person to have achieved a perfect week sexually and a perfect game in baseball. Gallery Coock Poo.png Cook Pu.png Perfect week.png Perfect Week 11.jpg Perfect Week 10.jpg Perfect Week 09.jpg Perfect Week 08.jpg Perfect Week 07.jpg Perfect Week 06.jpg Perfect Week 05.jpg Perfect Week 04.jpg Perfect Week 03.jpg Perfect Week 02.jpg Perfect Week 01.jpg Memorable Quotes Notes and Trivia Goofs and Errors *In , Marshall and Lily are seen brushing with separate toothbrushes and the viewer can see two additional toothbrushes by the sink. However, in this episode they claim to, along with Ted, have used the same toothbrush for eight years (which is well before the events of ). Allusions and Outside References *The episode is filled with baseball references. Some examples: **The title refers to a perfect game, examples of which are very rare in history. **Sportscaster Jim Nantz appears in Barney's imagination. **Nick Swisher of the New York Yankees visits MacLaren's. **The guys are superstitious about not referring to the ongoing streak in any way. **Ted acts as the "skip" to help Barney scout the bar. **Barney's friends encouragingly clap and telling him "Good game" when they believe the streak is over at six. **When Ted and Robin sit with Nick Swisher at MacLaren's, Robin shows her disinterest in baseball asking if "Mookie Wilson" is 'a thing'. Mookie Wilson is a former centerfielder who played ten seasons with the New York Mets from 1980-89 before he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for the final three seasons of his career. *Robin dates a guy who wears a Smurfs shirt and "has a love-hate relationship with Gargamel". Music *Pennant Fever - , from the film . Other Notes *International Airdates: Australia: June 24, 2010 on Channel 7; United Kingdom: August 26, 2010 on E4. * , who guest starred as himself, is now married to who previously guest starred as Maggie Wilks in . People.com: Joanna Garcia and Nick Swisher Wed in Palm Beach by Julie Jordan. Dec-11-2010. Retrieved Jan-5-2010. *In the Season 9 episode , Barney gives Marshall some performance-enhancing drugs, implying that he does use performance-enhancing drugs. Or just keeps them handy for bromergencies. *In the series' finale, it is revealed Barney pulled off a perfect month. Guests *Hong Chau - Cook Pu * - Himself * - Himself * - Joe Donovan *Charlene Amoia - Wendy the waitress *Jessica Borden - Joanna *Ryan Daniel Dobson - Danny *George Finn - Jamie Adamic *Charlene Lovings - Assistant *Brooke Newton - Christy Reception * Donna Bowman of rated the episode with a grade A-. http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-perfect-week,37767/ * Brian Zoromski of gave the episode 8.7 out of 10. http://au.tv.ign.com/articles/106/1065860p1.html * Cindy McLennan of rated the episode with a grade C+. http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/how-i-met-your-mother/the-perfect-week-1.php * The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 9.5 out of 10 stars. "...awesome storytellings...and a great guest appearance by Jim Nantz." References External Links * * * Category:Episodes Category:Season 5